It is already well known to place control buttons in the spokes of the steering wheel that connect the central portion to the rim of the steering wheel, for example in order to control communication and/or audio functions or even the speed limiting/regulating function.
However, in the context of increasingly elaborate human-machine interfaces, this solution lacks flexibility because the buttons are often dedicated. Thus, touch zones have been provided on one or more spokes of the steering wheel as an alternative to control buttons.
Road safety requires the hands to be kept on the steering wheel or in immediate proximity to the latter.
It has also been proposed to detect, by means of a camera, certain gestures made by the fingers of the driver when the hand of the driver is in the vicinity of the steering wheel. However, the precision of such a detection leaves something to be desired.
Specifically, it is common to make provision for depthwise and also heightwise adjustment of the steering wheel in an automobile. Therefore, the position of the steering wheel may typically vary by up to 10 centimeters in the depth direction, and up to 10 centimeters in the height direction. These depthwise and heightwise adjustments are conventionally controlled manually and the adjustment position is not known electronically. Therefore, camera-based detecting devices that are able to detect finger movements may often deliver an ambiguous interpretation of the wish expressed by the driver.